Salve
by metalchocobo13
Summary: Drabbles. Life's not all it's cracked up to be. When the party's over, they will know pain and sorrow unlike any they ever could have imagined. But all that ebbs away with both the support of their comrades and the passage of time.


Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts is the property of Square-Enix and I own nothing but this story.

• _salve: 1) any soothing or healing ointment for wounds, burns, etc. 2) anything that soothes_

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Without Words

She is selling flowers in Castle Town when out of nowhere the ruffians appear. They tease her as she works, but she holds her head high and ignores them. Her indifference annoys them, so they jostle her and get offensively close. She pushes them back with her basket, only for them to grab it and fling it to the ground. The flowers are crushed by their stamping elephant feet; petals flutter as a breeze passes through.

Finally, one of the ruffians snatches the coin purse hanging from her belt as she moves in vain to gather up her poor flowers. She feels the tug as the pouch is loosed from her waist, but already they're flying around the corner and down the steps to the Fountain Court even as she quickly shifts her attention back to them. Refusing to be defeated by a bunch of neighborhood hooligans, she chases after them and instantly catches up. She tries to get her pouch back, but it's four-to-one and they're playing keep away.

Unable to play cool any longer, she rushes one of the ruffians only to be firmly shoved to the side. Recovering, she rushes the ruffian again—this time landing on her bum in the fountain at his shove. Persistent, she stands and makes to rush the ruffian once more. This time, however, the ruffian prepares to slap her. As she draws near she notices how the ruffian's hand is poised to slap her across the face, but she's going full speed in a slippery fountain and she's too close to avoid the hit now.

She braces herself for the slap but is pleasantly surprised when she feels a new pair of hands shove her by the shoulders, causing her to land on her more cushioned backside instead.

And when she opens her eyes, he is there.

A boy with unruly golden spikes, fair skin, and, apparently, a set of high-level self-defense skills comes to her rescue. Although they are each 2 to 3 years older, taller, and generally much bigger than him, the little blond haired boy takes each ruffian down with a kind of grace and discipline not seen in many nine-year-old boys, or sometimes even those who are older.

As the last ruffian falls, the blond boy snatches the coin purse that had been loosely tied to his belt before turning to face her. Though when he _does_ see her, he turns his head away. She is wondering if he's going to run off with her munny too, when the sight of his hand reaching out crosses her vision.

Flowers.

Ruffians.

No pleasantries to exchange.

It is twilight at the Fountain Court.

She is ten. He is nine.

She sits on her bottom in the great fountain with her white and blue skirts soaking through, while he stands before her with his head turned away. One hand clasps her recovered coin purse and the other is stiffly outstretched towards her.

And then it hits her: it's an invitation of assistance.

She takes his hand slowly, but almost immediately he flinches in alarm. In a whirl of blond spikes he snaps his head to face her, and a beat later shocked azure locks with startled emerald in an even stare.

The moment passes though, and he easily pulls her to her feet, places the coin purse in her hand, and takes off before the first stroke of the evening bell chimes.

_And I didn't even get to thank him…_she thinks as she watches him disappear up the steps back to Castle Town.

Returning her attention to her coin purse, she pulls the pouch open and checks its contents. For now, it appears that no munny has been taken and she breathes a sigh of relief when her eyes pass over the still securely stitched-in cloth label bearing her name: Aerith Gainsborough.

Satisfied, Aerith makes her way out of the fountain—kicking each of the fully KO'd ruffians as she passes. She is just about to ascend the stairway when she notices an item at the foot of the first step. Picking it up she realizes it is an I.D. badge for the Young Radiant Guardian Cadets. Upon seeing the badge owners' stoic face, emerald once again locks with azure. A smile tugs at the corners of Aerith's lips as she reads the boys' name: Cloud Strife.

Carefully, Aerith tucks the I.D. badge along with her coin purse into her belt's item pouch pocket before she finally proceeds up the stairs. As she climbs, Aerith ponders when she'll see the boy again. She'd like to return his I.D. badge as well as give him proper thanks for his heroic actions today.

_Maybe we can be friends…_she thinks goodheartedly as she strolls back into Castle Town.

000

Cloud wanders through the streets already aware of the fact that he has lost his Cadet badge _somewhere _though he can't imagine where. He is retracing his steps when a strong passing breeze lodges debris in his unruly hair. Irritated, he stops to comb it out with his fingers when he catches something soft and smooth that isn't his hair. Pulling it out, he finds that the debris is actually a bunch of flower petals that had been carried off by the day's blustery breezes. It takes him a minute until he realizes that they are the same petals from the flowers that girl had been selling in town before those ruffians came along.

Suddenly, he remembers how he pursued the girl and the ruffians after observing their scuffle in town, how he shoved her out of the way while dodging the ruffian's attack, and how he hurriedly helped her up then took off in his nervous state.

_Must've dropped my badge when I ran back up the steps to town…_he deduces scratching his head with frustration.

The evening bells chime from the castle. He can't go back now. It's getting dark, and there would be hell to pay if he ran into those guys again with the wounds on their older boys' pride still fresh.

_I guess I'll just try to find the girl tomorrow, but how will I if I don't even know her name?_

Cloud puzzles this over in the middle of the street when a little girl with short black hair (and a lax attitude) barrels right into him. He sits up, ready to give this kid a piece of his mind, when he notices her sniffle then cry. Awkwardly, Cloud pats the kid on the head unsure of how to comfort her.

Somehow the simple act of patting the child on the head soothes her and in a few short minutes her cries change into giggles of delight. The woman with the child finally catches up then and apologizes to Cloud as she gathers the girl up.

"I'm so sorry about that! This child is just such a loose cannon, I can barely keep up with her! Now Yuffie, apologize for tackling this nice young man this instant. Go on now!"

Ashamed, the little girl stands up straight then bows to Cloud as she says, "I'm sowwy!"

The woman, Cloud identifies as the girls' mother, apologizes again while holding the girls' head down to bow as she bows herself. When Cloud assures the girl's mother 'it's not a big deal' and she finally decides to continue on, the girl casually slips a piece of paper she'd been carrying into Cloud's hand, smiles while giving a thumbs up, then closes the distance between her mother and herself, taking hold of her mother's hand.

With the peculiar mother and daughter pair out of sight, Cloud unfolds the child's paper which turns out to be a newspaper clipping. At first he sees nothing of significance. However, upon closer inspection he sees a picture of the girl Yuffie gripping flowers in a raised fist, mouth open wide as she yells something, and the flower girl with her basket slung over one arm standing next to her, a bashful smile on her face.

He feels his cheeks heat as he looks at the flower girl's smiling face, so he shifts his attention to the caption: Yuffie Kisaragi advertises Aerith Gainsborough's flowers in the square.

_That's it!_ he concludes, azure eyes shining hopefully.

_Now I won't have to bother mother to get me a new badge!_ _I know I usually suck at talking to people, especially girls, but maybe just this once it'll be okay. If I embarrass myself, we won't __**have**__ to speak again…_ he assures himself as he makes his way home. Still, he can't help but have one last wandering thought as he goes—

_Though, I wouldn't mind if I could get to know her…_

Street lamps burn to life as the sun sinks low on the horizon at the end of another day. Yet, on this particular night while the stars blink awake and cast their light on the sleepy world, the promise of change rides on the wind.

On a warm spring night in Radiant Garden, it begins.

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**A/N:** Thanks for reading. Reviews are always welcome.


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